Should Rubio Cut His Losses?

Poor old Marco Rubio. Ok, so maybe you don't feel a ton of sympathy for the guy, but you've got to admit he probably never saw things going this poorly. Heading into Saturday's contests in Maine, Kansas, Kentucky, and Louisiana, the Florida senator and one-time fresh faced savior of the GOP had won just one state, Minnesota, where he took the caucuses by more than 8,000 votes. And on Saturday, he got positively obliterated ― so, should Marco Rubio drop out of the GOP presidential race?

Here's your short answer: yes. Absolutely. He probably should've dropped out after Super Tuesday, in fact, if he really cared that much about keeping somebody he keeps calling a "con man" from ascending to the presidency. But it seems as though ego, starry-eyed optimism, or some combination of both have clouded his judgment, and convinced him to keep trudging along, despite the marked lack of enthusiasm from, you know, real voters.

The disconnect was once again laid bare early on Saturday, after Rubio delivered an adoringly received speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), and came in second to Texas senator Ted Cruz in the conference's straw poll. Maybe he should've followed Donald Trump's lead and hit the stump instead ― if it weren't obvious, being the darling of the Republican establishment has won Rubio virtually nothing.

In fact, we're now nearly to the point when the narrative about Rubio's position in the so-called "establishment lane" is going to flip over and swallow him whole. As it stands now, there aren't many reasons left to view Rubio as a more credible, viable candidate than Ohio governor John Kasich, especially considering Kasich is in-the-hunt in his home state, a winner-take-all primary, while Rubio is down in Florida by double-digits.

Aye, but there's the rub. Rubio almost certainly won't drop out, at least not until after he either notches a stirring come-from-behind win in Florida, or actually loses it to Cruz, or more likely, Trump. The political toll that loss would take, needless to say, would be devastating ― there's a fair case to be made that the better move for his long-term career prospects would be to cut his losses and drop out rather than even risk that.

But after his disastrous Saturday night, the statements from his campaign are making it sound like there's no chance of a quick withdrawal. Which means he seems hell-bent on testing the strength of his own campaign's predictive capabilities ― weeks ago, Rubio adviser Todd Harris defiantly tweeted that the polls in Florida are wrong, saying "We are going to win Florida. Period. Take it to the bank." Fortunately, you won't have to wait much longer to find out what happens, as the Florida primary is just ten days away, on March 15th.